Hitherto, the suturing work in surgical operations has been performed by using a surgical needle which has a curved shape like that obtained by bending an ordinary sewing needle and to a tail portion of which a suture is preliminarily attached.
As such surgical needles, there have been eyed-type needles which are capable of attaching and removing a suture at user's end, and eyeless-type needles which are marketed with a suture already attached by makers. Further, surgical needles are classified, according to their shapes, into round needles tapered toward a tip thereof and having a circular cross-section, polygonal needles whose tip end is formed into a lance shape having a triangular cross-section, spatula needles whose tip end is formed into a knife shape, or the like. At present, such various types of the surgical needles have been selectively used depending on a nature of tissue of the organ to be operated or purposes of the suturing work. Any of these surgical needles has usually machined into a very sharp tip so as to allow surgeons to readily perform the tissue penetration thereof even when only a small penetration force is applied thereto by the surgeons.
In the suturing work, the surgical needle is clamped at a tail end thereof by a needle holder which can be manipulated by surgeons. The needle holder is manipulated such that the surgical needle penetrates the tissue and then the tip end thereof protrudes outside the tissue. After the needle holder is removed from the tail end of the surgical needle, the surgical needle is pinched at the tip end by the needle holder and pulled out of the tissue to pass a suture attached thereto through the tissue. Thereafter, the suture is tied for ligation of the tissue and cut near the ligated portion by scissors or the like. The unnecessary used surgical needle and cut suture are discarded. The suturing work is completed by performing these sequential operations.
Since conventional surgical needles have very sharp tip ends, there have frequently occurred such puncture accidents that surgeons or their assistants are erroneously in touch with the tip ends during surgical operations and injured by themselves. In such a case, if patients to be surgically operated are carriers of bacteria and viruses which are infectious through blood, there is a large risk that the surgeons and their assistants are susceptible to these infectious diseases through a very small amount of blood attached to the tip end of the surgical needle. Also, when the used surgical needles, which are contaminated with such blood, are discarded after surgical operations, surgical participants, hospital participants or participants in waste disposal are similarly exposed to risk of accidental infection of the infectious diseases. Recently, this poses a social problem.
Accordingly, all of these participants must take a great care upon handling the surgical needle so as not to be in touch with the tip end thereof.
However, when the needle holder to which the surgical needle is fitted is handed over from the surgical assistant to the surgeon or returned from the surgeon back to the surgical assistant, there is a likelihood that the needle tip impinges against a hand of the surgical assistant or the surgeon, thereby causing puncture accidents. Further, in the case where the surgical operation is associated with complicated suturing work, surgeons have to insert their fingertips into a deep portion in a body of the patient. In this case, the fingertips of the surgeons come into direct contact with the needle tip, thereby also causing the puncture accidents. Thus, even though a great care is taken, the puncture accidents cannot be completely prevented.
In consequence, it have been recently proposed that conventional surgical needles having a blunted tip, i.e., blunt needles, which have been used for suture of specific tissues, are applied to suturing of other tissues. However, many tissues cannot be penetrated by such blunt needles. When it is intended that the blunt needle forcibly penetrates these tissues by applying a large penetration force thereto, the risk of puncture accidents is rather increased in many cases. As a result, this proposal is practically unacceptable to surgeons.
The present invention has been accomplished in view of the afore-mentioned problems.